Welp, I finally did it. I got on the scale this morning and it stopped at 200 pounds!!! This is probably the first time in 10 years since I've been at that mark. I'm beyond happy. That makes a 45 pound loss, or to put it into perspective, basically 1/5 of my body weight.
It hasn't been an easy journey, it's taken a bit longer than expected. Those last 5 pounds just would not go away!! I have a post daved as a draft on here that I may get around to finished, but I think it's dated December 29th. That's basically when the switch got flipped. The day I decieded I wasn't happy with myself and I wanted to change. Here I am almost 7 months to the day, and I have changed, and I'm happy with myself. So, how did I do it? I've had tons of co-workers, customers, and friends ask me how I lost the weight. My answer to them has always been: Nothing, I just changed my life. Hate to break it to everyone, but there's no secret potion and magic food you can eat and lose weight and KEEP IT OFF. I mentioned before that this is the first time in 10 years that I've weighed what I currently do. Back 10 years ago, I did the Atkins thing when it was huge. Sure it worked, I lost around 35 pounds in a few months. But here I am today telling you that I'm after 45 pounds, I'm back to where I was after the Atkins. So what went wrong? Well, what is Atkins? A diet. DIETS DO NOT WORK. Say it with me people, DIETS DO NOT WORK. Sure, you'll lose weight, but as soon as you stop the diet, it'll all just come right back.
As I said, I changed my life. I changed my eating habits. I work in retail, my lunches ususally consisted of whatever junk food place was around. Not anymore. I eat salads now, I eat more vegtables and I basically cut junk food totally out. I'm not going to lie, on occassion I get in the mood for chips or candy, but I do it in moderation. Take a couple bites, and put it away. I cut my soda intake down to nearly 0, and to anyone who knows me, that's huge. I could easily polish off a 2 liter in a night. Now, if I drink 2 liters a week that's a lot. I switched to water with some sort of flavoring in it(Mio, Crystal Light, etc)
I also changed my daily activity level. I joined a gym, I've been going for almost the entire 7 months now. I had to take a month off when I was in a car accident, but other than that, I've been going 4-5 times a week. I generally do 45-60 minutes on the treadmill or usually the elliptical. Then I do weights. Nothing major, bi/triceps, abs, chest/shoulder press.
I changed my mentality. I don't do things the easy way, I do them the right way. There's tons of small things that we tend to take shortcuts on in life. Parking spots for example. How many people drive around for 10 minutes looking for a spot so they don't have to walk 10 feet? Just park, and walk!!! It'll save gas, and burn a calorie or 3. The WORST time I see this, is AT THE GYM. Really??? You're about to go walk 3 miles on a treadmill, but you can't walk a few feet to the door? I mean, there's just tons of little things like this that I believe have helped me out.
That's basically it folks, all it takes is a little life change. If I can do it, you can too! And with that, I'm off to the gym!
